Lisa roughly shook Adella's shoulder.
"Adella. Adella, wake up," Lisa ordered loudly. Adella wearily opened her eyes.
"What's going on?" she murmured. "Kat? Where's Kat? Is she okay?"
"Kat's fine," Lisa replied. "For now. But if we don't move quickly she won't be."
"What time is it?" Adella looked at the clock. "Whoah. After noon already."
"Yeah. Get dressed."
Adella hastily ran to the bathroom and threw on a pair of jeans and a sweatshirt. She looked worriedly at Lisa.
"What's going on?" she repeated.
"Get in the car. I'll tell you on the way."
"Shouldn't I call my parents?" Adella called as Lisa began pushing her out the door.
"No," Lisa got her in the car and shut the door behind her.
As they began driving, Lisa explained the situation.
"...and you need to come with me," she sighed. "I'm sorry. I really am. If I could I would just leave you here. But he promised not to hurt you, and he doesn't lie. He just doesn't want you telling your parents."
"I understand," Adella replied sympathetically. "And I'll do anything to get Kat back."
"Of course," Lisa nodded absently as they continued on in the burning sun.
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Jackson cut the engine in front of the Clearview Mall and turned to Kat. She frowned.
"What?" he asked defensively. "We need to get you some clothes. You can't be wearing just your tshirt when we meet your mom."
"Well, that would be a huge blow to your ego, so yeah, whatever," Kat grumbled, stumbling out of the car. Jackson ran to her side and caught her arm.
"Nothing cute, now," he murmured. She scowled.
"I can't get anything cute?" she teased moodily.
"No. I meant..." he rolled his eyes. "Never mind."
They went to the clothing store nearest the entrance. Kat didn't even bother glancing at the name. What did it matter any more?"
"Here," he thrust several garments at her and she was shocked that they were exactly her taste. "Go try them on. Don't be writing any naughty messages on the mirror, now. If you do I may be inclined to help you with them."
Kat scowled in disgust and slammed the door shut in his face. Pulling them over her head, she found that they fit perfectly. Settling for satisfactory, she changed back into the torn tshirt and thrust them at Jackon.
"Here," she mumbled. "They're fine."
"Are you sure?" he asked. "Because if you don't like them..."
"I said they're fine," she snapped. "Anyway, what do you care?"
He shrugged. "Whatever." They began walking to the front desk when he spoke again. "You treat Luke like this?"
"My dad?" Kat corrected. She saw his face shadow. "No. I don't. Because he's not a terrorist."
"Well, its not like he's that moral of a man," Jackson snorted.
"What would you know?" she stopped and stared angrily at him.
"I know that he used to work with me," Jackson growled. Kat stepped back.
"No, he didn't," she argued. He nodded irritably.
"Yeah, he did. He screwed me over, and got fired. So he got out of the assassination business and went into legal because he was covering his ass from former employees."
Kat felt dizzy. "That's not true. You don't even know my dad."
Jackson scowled, his face looking pained. Finally he thrust a photo from his wallet at Kat. It was Jackson. And her father. They looked happy. It must have been taken before he'd been fired.
"Oh my..." she pressed a hand against her forehead and dropped the snapshot. "No. No, no, no..."
"Don't worry, he's been a lawyer since before he even met your mom," he said in disgust. "She never even knew."
"Is this why you hate him so much?" Kat scowled. "I thought you just didn't like him because he's married to my mom."
"Well, that's part of it."
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Lisa sighed, thinking, and shifted her hands on the steering wheel. She clicked the quietly playing radio off and turned to Adella.
"Adella," she said quietly. "Can I confide in you something?"
"Sure," Adella replied eagerly.
"I..." she shook her head. "Its not easy to say this."
"Just say it."
"Luke...Luke isn't Kat's real dad."
Adella blinked. "Wow. Um...okay. That's kind of shocking, but I don't know why you're telling me now."
"Because her real dad...her real dad...he's holding her hostage."
Adella felt dizzy. "No. That's not true."
"It is. Katie's father is Jackson Rippner."
